Toolchain Development

The main key driver for new innovations in the automotive industry is the use of software controlled applications. The utilization has increased in a few years from 20 percent to 80 percent and forecasts claim that 90 percent of the automotive functions will be software in this decade. To minimize these costs, the software has to be tested in an early phase.

The Original-Equipment-Manufacturer (OEM) designs the car and its features in specifications and external suppliers produce only parts. Therefore, the suppliers have to test their developed ECU entirely on their own, prior to the first assembly of all components. Missing nodes that are responsible for a foreign but essential part of the function can make this testing impossible. For this purpose, a tool called cluster simulation has to be applied by the suppliers. A cluster simulator imitates the missing nodes and their behavior inside the network topology and therefor enables the solution for testing purposes.